HTC Surround being discontinued

A rather depressing way to finish off the weekend, but it seems as though the HTC Surround is being discontinued at more than one source. On AT&T and Telus, both websites report that the Windows Phone handset is no longer available, although AT&T simply removed the product page with a substitute notice of unavailability. This news is almost as sad as Sprint deciding to use the HTC Arrive as a "handset recycle" example for the iPhone 4S.

What can we hope to see in the near future? Nokia, HTC and Acer to name but a few should look to push the platform harder in the US (with Microsoft's marketing support) as well as on a global scale. First-generation handsets appear to be the old with Mango devices ready and able to take their place.

QWERTY keyboards are a necessity for me (my fat fingers and virtual keyboards don't mix) so I'd actually stick with the Arrive (coming from a die-hard Touch Pro2 fan). But that's your opinion towards the phone, I personally think it has superb build quality and hardware specs for a first-gen device. Only problem is Microsoft's lack of landscape orientation throughout the OS like they had in Windows Mobile, but that's not HTC's fault.

The problem for all of them is simply marketing. The fact that there is none. How many times in a show do you see an Android commercial? Also, with MS tying in with one handset manufacturer a few weeks ago and Google buying up Motorola, what's there to make phone companies want to support WP7? Think about it like this. With the introduction of WP7, about the only people that know about it and are hyped about it are us. People that have the phones. How many WM people just went to 4GS this week? A lot more than went from 3G or 4G over to WP7 I'm willing to bet. Mango has a lot of great features and has the potential to be a serious competitor to all the others. But, it's the best kept secret in the market.

Those who know me from other forums know that I collect and trade devices. So I've tried out all available but the DVP.Anyone who says the Surround is a terrible device has obviously never used it. It's a solid performer and the speaker makes it one of a kind. Let's face it no WP7 device is spectacular, it's like being in a bad marriage waiting for your spouse to change (so frustrating).Enough of that, the Surround has something that no other device has anywhere! For that I think most (90%) of Surround users are glad to have made that choice. I dare someone here to tell me a device available at WP's start that really blows everything else out of the water. Triple double dog dare ya!!!The Surround may not be a classic like the HD2 but it has it's own place in Mobile-tech history.

A lot of negative comments on here. I know two people, both friends of my daughter, who own the Surround and they enjoy it. Not sure what the downside is that everyone is posting about. It is smooth running 1st gen WP. I consider all those of the 1st gen devices a soft start - just kinda of a get the devices out and get real life data on em. But it was a unique device in a market in which it is tough to be unique. A good run.